Honestly, after seeing some of the hype and people's reactions to this game, I was a bit disappointed after playing it. Let me explain myself a bit. I'm not done with it but I'm on the final chapter with 50hrs in so no spoilers please. Btw I played on normal difficulty.
What I liked about the game
The combat system is decent. I like the idea of orbment, quartz, and arts. The turn system is pretty standard and I like the idea of your party members being able to move around. The link system is also not bad. But they felt a little underwhelming at later levels.
The world building is GREAT. I'm really interested in the world of Zemuria and its various countries/empires. I loved learning about bracers, orbments, the history of erebonia and other things. I would love to read a book about someone who is starting in the bracer guild. The game does a really good job of showing you what the world is like through playing the game.
The story is strong. The dialogue isn't too cheesy at time and I like a lot of the characters. I wish we could get some more backstory on a couple of them but its still good nonetheless.
What I disliked about the game.
The quests feel like a chore sometimes. The first 10-15 hrs are fine because that is what I expect from a jrpg, but after a while everything gets really stale. I wish the game would change up its formula once in a while because I was tired of doing a field study so soon after my previous one ended. They need to do more "school stuff" in between field studies or at least change up the freaking quests you get at field studies. I found myself skipping through cut scenes just to get to the main story. I'm on the final chapter right now and I haven't picked it up in a few days because I am bored of the game right now. I feel like the game would be better if you were a bracer or a soldier in the imperial army rather than a student. I think I expected too much from the school aspect because of all the P4G comparisons. The two games are not even that similar.
I know this is a common thing in JRPGs but I hate how a group of students are the ones saving the world when there are adults who are supposedly 100000x stronger than you not doing much. I feel like I would enjoy the game much more if I was a student that felt helpless and would have to rely on the adults who are capable of bringing down the bad guys. Helping the far more powerful and proven soldiers, bracers, RMP officers would have ade for a better narrative imo.
Aside from these criticisms I did enjoy this game but I would not rate it higher than a 7/10. If you are a jrpg fan I would recommend this game in a heartbeat. However, if the sequel does not change many other aspects of the first besides the story i don't think I'll be picking it up.